Adventures in Decorating: Our Fall Mantel

Historical fire pits were sometimes built in the floor, in caves, or at the center of a hut or home. Evidence of ancient, man-made fires exists on all five inhabited continents. The disadvantage of early indoor fire pits was that they produced hazardous or irritating smoke inside the house.Fire pits developed into raised hearths in buildings, but ventilation smoke depended on open windows or openings in roofs. The medieval great hall typically needed a centrally situated hearth, where a open flame burnt with all the smoke climbing into the port in the roof. Louvers were developed during the Middle Ages to enable the roof vents to be covered so snow and rain would not enter.

Additionally throughout the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were invented to stop smoke from dispersing an area and vent it out through a ceiling or wall. These could be placed against stone walls, rather than taking up the center of the space, and this enabled smaller chambers to be warmed.Chimneys were devised in northern Europe in the 11th or 12th centuries and largely fixed the issue of fumes, more faithfully venting smoke out. They made it feasible to provide the fireplace a draft, and also made it feasible to put fireplaces in numerous rooms in buildings handily. They did not come into general use immediately, however, since they were expensive to develop and maintain.

In 1678 Prince Rupert, nephew of Charles I, increased the grate of the fireplace, improving the venting and airflow system. Benjamin Franklin developed a convection room for the fireplace that greatly enhanced the efficiency of fireplaces and wood stoves. He also enhanced the airflow by pulling air from a basement and venting a lengthier place at the very top. In the later 18th century, Count Rumford made a fireplace using a tall, shallow firebox which was better at drawing the smoke up and from the building. The shallow design improved greatly the quantity of radiant warmth projected into the room. Rumford's design is the basis for modern kitchens.

Rather it relied on simple layouts with little unnecessary ornamentation. From the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way into the Arts and Crafts movement, in which the emphasis was still placed on supplying quality stone. Stone fireplaces now have been a sign of wealth, which to some degree is still the idea today.A fireplace is a structure made from brick, stone or metal made to include a fire. Fireplaces are utilized for its relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a space. Modern fireplaces change in heat efficiency, depending on the plan.

Historically they have been used for heating a dwelling, cooking, and heating water for laundry and domestic uses.

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On the exterior there's often a corbeled brick crown, in which the projecting courses of brick function as a drip course to keep rainwater from running down the exterior walls. A hood, cap, or shroud functions to keep rainwater out of the outside of the chimney; rain at the chimney is a far greater difficulty in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metal liners than with the traditional masonry chimney, which soaks up all but the most violent rain. Some chimneys have a spark arrestor integrated into the crown or cap.

The EPA writes"Smoke may smell great, but it's not good for you.

Kinds of fireplacesArtificial fireplaces are made with sheet glass or metal flame boxes.Electric fireplaces could be built-in replacements for wood or gas or retrofit with log inserts or electric fireboxes.

Masonry and prefabricated fireplaces can be fueled by wood, natural gas, biomass and gas fuel sources. Ventless Fireplaces (duct free/room-venting fireplaces) are fueled by gel, liquid propane, bottled gas or natural gas. In the USA, several states and local businesses have laws restricting these kinds of fireplaces. There are also air quality control issues due to the amount of moisture that they release in the room air, and oxygen detector and carbon dioxide sensors are security essentials. Direct vent fireplaces have been fueled by either liquid propane or natural gas. They are completely sealed in the place that's heated, and port all exhaust gasses into the exterior of the structure.

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AccessoriesFor the interior, common in current Western cultures include grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, pellet baskets, along with fire dogs, all of which cradle fuel and accelerate burning. A grate (or flame grate) is a frame, usually of iron bars, to maintain fuel to your fire. Heavy metal firebacks are sometimes used to capture and re-radiate warmth, to protect the rear of the fireplace, and as decoration. Fenders are low metallic frames placed in front of the fireplace to include embers, soot and ashes. Other wider accessories can include log baskets, companion sets, coal buckets, cabinet accessories and much more.

Over time, the purpose of fireplaces has changed from one of requirement to one of interest. Early ones were more fire pits than contemporary fireplaces. They were used for heat on chilly days and nights, in addition to for cooking. They also served as a gathering place inside the house. These fire pits were generally based within a space, allowing more people to gather around it.

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Many defects were found in early fireplace designs. Together with the Industrial Revolution, came big scale housing developments, necessitating a standardization of fireplaces. The most renowned fireplace designers of the time were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a kind of fireplace design which has been used for generations. It had been smaller, more brightly lit, with an emphasis on the quality of the materials used in their construction, instead of their size.

From the 1800s newest fireplaces were composed of two parts, the surround and the add. The encircle consisted of the mantlepiece and sides supports, usually in wood, granite or marble. The fit was fire burnt, and was constructed of cast iron frequently backed with ornamental tiles. As well as providing heat, the fireplaces of the Victorian age were thought to bring a cozy ambiance into houses.

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Some fireplace units incorporate a blower that transfers more of the fireplace's heat to the atmosphere via convection, resulting in a more evenly heated space and a lower heating load. Fireplace efficiency can also be enhanced by means of a fireback, a piece of metal which sits behind the fire and reflects heat back into the room. Firebacks are traditionally produced from cast iron, but are also made from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complex notion though with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficacy tests consider just the impact of heating of the air. An open fireplace isn't, and never was, designed to warm the atmosphere. The best method to estimate the output signal of a fireplace is if you notice you are turning the thermostat down or up.

Most elderly fireplaces have a comparatively low efficiency rating. Standard, contemporary, weatherproof masonry fireplaces still possess an efficiency rating of 80% (legal minimum requirement for example in Salzburg/Austria). To boost efficiency, fireplaces may also be altered by adding special heavy fireboxes developed to burn cleaner and can reach efficiencies as high as 80% in heating the atmosphere. These altered fireplaces are often equipped with a large fire window, allowing an efficient heating system in two phases. During the first stage the first heat is provided through a big glass while the flame is burning. In this time period the structure, built of refractory bricks, absorbs the heat. This warmth is then evenly radiated for several hours during the second stage. Masonry fireplaces without a glass fire window just provide heat radiated from the surface. Based on outside temperatures 1 to two daily firings are enough to ensure a constant room temperature.fireplace mantel ideas